Payphones disappearing, but not gone

Published 8:59 pm, Monday, September 10, 2012

Photo Caption: Minnie Mims uses her mobile phone while standing next to an abandoned payphone site at a rest stop on IH-10 in West Texas. Photograph by Forrest M. Mims III.

Can you recall when you last placed a call from a coin-operated telephone? My last experience with a payphone was more than a decade ago at the San Antonio International Airport.

Before the arrival of cheap mobile phones, most parents made sure their children were always provided with coins to make an emergency phone call. The dime when I was growing up became a quarter when my children were young.

Today's generation is growing up with mobile phones, and most of them will probably never insert a coin or credit card into a payphone slot. Nor will they ever have to arrange for long distance calls through an attendant, as fellow students and I did at Texas A&M in the 1960s. After completing a call, we walked to the counter and paid the bill.

While payphones are much less common today, they continue to play an important role in rural areas and regions with limited or no cellular phone service. Telephone companies that operate payphones have stayed up to date by modifying their equipment to accept credit and phone cards.

Mobile phones play the dominant role in telephone communications today. While mobile phones are far more convenient and accessible than fixed-location payphones, they are not perfect. Coin-operated phones don't slip into a pocket or purse, but they often provide more reliable service than mobile phones. They don't drop calls, as mobile phones are prone to do. They don't require their users to find an electrical outlet to recharge their batteries. And they provide free emergency service.

You can better appreciate how far payphone technology has advanced over the past century by reviewing some highlights of its history. A fun way to do this is to visit websites like Mark Thomas' www.payphone-project.com. This site features “stories, pictures, phone numbers and news from payphones.” Also included are photos of abandoned pay phones and non-working payphones that still collect coins from would-be users.

The American Public Communications Council Inc. was formed in 1988 to represent independent payphone companies. Today the APCC represents some 1,200 of those companies, and its website (www.apcc.net) holds a wealth of information about the industry. For example, independent payphone companies operate 450,000 of the estimated 500,000 payphones in the U.S. These phones are used to make 1.7 billion calls each year.

The APCC website also includes historical information about payphones. Click on “Industry Info” to learn that William Gray began selling the first caller-operated coin telephone in 1891. In 1913 a payphone capable of accepting three coin sizes was developed. This became the payphone standard.

Forrest Mims, an amateur scientist whose research has appeared in leading scientific journals, was named one of the “50 Best Brains in Science” by Discover Magazine. His science is featured at www.forrestmims.org. Email him at forrest.mims@ieee.org.